Another Failed Republican Revolution, by Laurence M. Vance

The Republicans have compiled a dismal record of failure, repudiating most if not all of their supposed ideological premises. From Laurence M. Vance at lewrockwell.com:

Another Republican revolution has now failed.

A Republican revolution can be defined as a time when Republicans gained control of both Houses of Congress and therefore were in a position to severely limit the federal government.

There have been five Republican revolutions in modern times, and they have all ended in failure.

The first Republican revolution occurred in 1946 when Republicans regained control of both Houses of Congress after four elections of FDR to the presidency and years of Democratic rule. With a Democrat in the White House (Harry Truman), their hands were somewhat tied, and they lost control of the Congress in the next election. Unfortunately, however, the Republicans joined with Truman in passing the National Security Act of 1947 which created the CIA and began the national security state. The Republicans failed.

The second Republican revolution occurred in 1952 when Republicans regained control of both Houses of Congress and a Republican was elected president. The Republicans only controlled both Houses of Congress during the first two years of Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency (1953-1955). But if ever Roosevelt’s New Deal could have been repealed in its entirety this was the time. It wasn’t, and now we live in a full-blown welfare state. The Republicans failed.

The third Republican revolution occurred in 1994 when Republicans—for the first time in fifty years—regained control of both Houses of Congress. (Republicans did control the Senate for the first six years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency [1981-1987], but that was a Reagan revolution, not a Republican revolution.) The Republicans managed to hang on to control of the Congress for the last six years of Bill Clinton’s presidency. But once again, because a Democrat was in the White House, their hands were somewhat tied. But this is no excuse for spending more money every year and increasing the national debt by $1.4 trillion by the end of Clinton’s second term. (See here on the myth of the Clinton surplus.) The Republicans also expanded the welfare state by increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit every year and instituting the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that provides federally-funded health insurance to children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid. The Republicans failed.

If I had a dime for every pol’s promise not broken
I wouldn’t have enough to buy a bus token
You can say they are hookers looking for scores
But that would clearly malign the whores
I’d tell of the pol who doesn’t belong in jail
But it would be dismissed as a fairy tale

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